Awake
by cinderellaaa
Summary: To Gokudera, she's annoying, stupid & innocent. But after Reborn warns him and his friends to stay away from her, curiosity gets the better of him. He realizes there's something dangerously wrong with her...even she doesn't know about it. GokuxOC HIATUS
1. Prologue

**Author's note:** I had this idea stuck with me for a very long time, I just never got around to writing it until now. This is my first story, so chapters 1-3 might be a bit iffy, but please stick around ^__^  
I noticed that there wasn't a lot of GokuderaxOC stories here, which is a shame because he's one of my favourite characters, so here's my contribution.  
I'm gonna do my best not to make this a cliche type of story, so I'll see how this goes. Positive or constructive criticism is welcomed :D So please tell me what you think about the story.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, but I own the OC.

* * *

**Prologue.**

"**MOTHER!!!"**

The little girl's scream was inaudible amongst the sounds of gunshots on the street. Her platinum blond hair became stained with red. It was raining blood.

_One, two, three_… she dragged herself across the road to her mother, who was lying on the ground. Dead.

Tears flowed freely from hazel eyes as she curled up next to her now dead mother, in vain attempts to keep her from becoming any more colder.

"BANG!"

She felt the wind of the bullet as it narrowly missed her face.

"BANG!"

She yelped in pain as the second bullet drove through her ankle.

She couldn't stop herself from crying loudly, how did this happen to her?

Why to a 5 year old and her mother? Why? A series of questions flooded her mind.

They were innocent; they did nothing to deserve this.

Shaking from pain and from shock, she looked to where the two bullets came from.

_Von…Go...La?_ She read from the huge sign hanging above what appears to be a whole army of men dressed in formal suits.

They marched slowly towards her direction, but they did not seem to notice her, they appeared to be charging towards the people behind her.

The men stepped around her and over her as if she was merely a rock on a pavement.

The poor girl cried out in pain as she got kicked, shoved and stepped on by the many people who are oblivious to her existence.

She was at her limit; amongst the shouting, the sound of gunshots, the sound of bones breaking, the sounds of bodies falling to the ground… there was a little 5 year old girl hugging her dead mother on the street.

She was in pain everywhere, she lost everything so suddenly. Stuck in a foreign place, confused, sad and scared.

Not knowing what to do, she closed her eyes and tried to shut out her surroundings. The last words she heard were "Poor girl, she'd be better off dead". And with that, she lost consciousness waiting for the one shot to end her life that never came.


	2. Impressions

Here it is, chapter 1 of my story! Yayyyy ~  
Oh and just a note, I know that the protagonist on the prologue has blond hair, and it says in this chapter that Ami has red hair. Don't worry, this will all be explained later on in the story :)

* * *

"beep, beep, beep"

Ami opened her eyes slowly. _ugh, is it time for school?_

After taking a shower, getting changed into her uniform, cooking breakfast, packing lunch, she was all set for the day. She walked towards the front door and stopped to look at herself in the mirror. She brushed her red hair neatly and flattened out any wrinkles in her uniform.

Before opening the front door, Ami took a deep breath in, smiled and wished for a good day and stepped outside; her morning ritual.

_Today looks like a wonderful day_, she thought as she walked down the street to her school.

"**Aiieeeee!"** She saw Tsuna run past wearing nothing but his boxers, knocking into her along the way, making her drop her books.

"Ah." Ami bent down to pick up her books.

"**TENTH!!! I HAVE YOUR CLOTHES!!!!"** Gokudera yelled as he ran after Tsuna, pushing Ami of the way, making her face-plant a wall next to her.

_-Sigh- scratch what I said earlier. More importantly… was that Tsuna-kun that I saw just then..?_

Ami trudged her way to school, tired from the excitement early in the morning.

"Ami!! What happened to your face? Is that a bruise?!" Sasagawa Kyoko ran up to her, clearly worried.

"Huh? Oh, this? Oh don't worry, it's nothing! I just tripped over and fell, that's all!" Ami waved her hands dismissively.

"Ohh, I see, as long as you're alright", Kyoko smiled.

Ami smiled back; Kyoko is like a mother to her. She's always so gentle and caring and gets worried about her all the time. Sometimes it makes Ami feel bad knowing how childish she must appear compared to her best friend, which is why she's doing her best to become more independent.

"Hey, did you two hear about Sawada coming to school in his boxers again? Really now, if that's his way of trying to stand out from the crowd to draw your attention, Kyoko, then he's doing it all wrong" Hana said as she joined Ami and Kyoko.

"Ahaha, I'm pretty sure it's not like that" laughed Kyoko

"But what stumps me is why that Gokudera constantly hangs around him. Such a hottie like that seems to be worshipping a guy like Sawada… you'd think it should be the other way around" Hana continued with her gossip session

School went on as normal, with the exception of a group of third years apparently getting blown up by dynamite.

A lot of weird stuff has happened in Namimori lately, but Amii never bothered to investigate. Maybe because Hana provided her with the gossip around school, but either way, Ami never took interest in any of the drama at her school.

After school, it started raining heavily.

"Gokudera-kun, that's the girl that we knocked into earlier" Tsuna said, motioning towards Ami.

"Oh, that's right." Gokudera said with little to no interest

Ami walked past the two boys, oblivious to their debate on how they should apologize to her.

She was about to walk out of the school gates in the rain, when--

"Oi, red head!" Ami turned to see Gokudera pointing at her.

"Yes?"

"…I'll walk you home" Gokudera looked very frustrated

"Oh, no you don't need to do that!"

"Don't think I did that for your benefit, Tenth made me as amends for this morning. He even gave me an umbrella so you won't get rained on"

_Dammit, I have to walk this woman home?! _Gokudera complained to himself

The walk home with Gokudera was pretty awkward. After all, they're complete strangers with nothing to talk about, sharing an umbrella.

"So umm, why do you call Tsuna-kun Tenth?" asked Ami, trying to strike up a conversation

Gokudera's face lit up at the mention of his beloved boss. "Because he is the tenth boss of the family!"

"Oh, I see. It's nice that you respect him so much" Ami smiled, trying to understand what he just said.

"Of course I respect him! Tenth is a brilliant man, he's strong, he's caring, modest, humble, everything that a boss should be!!"

She looked up at Gokudera; his face was full of admiration of Tsuna. He then realized who he was walking with and assumed his usual frustrated look.

"Woman, where do you live, anyway"

"Oh, I live at the end of the street"

Ami continued walking with Gokudera, the two oblivious to the fact that a small baby in a tuxedo was watching them.

"Tanaka Ami..." he mumbled to no one in particular, as if trying to recall something.

"Okay this is your house" grumbled Gokudera, "Don't ever bring trouble to Tenth again".

"Don't worry; I won't" smiled Ami as made her way inside the house, "thank you and goodbye!"

"Hmph."

_Damn woman_, he thought as he turned around and walked home, _she's always so damn happy._

"Family... huh" Ami muttered as she closed the door behind her.

* * *

And that's the first chapter, everyone !  
Yeah, sorry that it's not the best, but I **PROMISE** to you that it'll get better, this is just to establish the characters in the story.  
Oh and please review, I would love to hear your opinions and what you think of everything so far. All suggestions, constructive criticisms are most definitely welcome ^__^


	3. Sugarcoated

Chapter 2 is now up ^^  
I'm so proud of myself for updating so fast, ahaha .  
Please R&R :) tell me what I'm doing wrong, okay?

* * *

Ami woke up one hour early to bake cookies for Tsuna and his friends as a thank you gift for yesterday.

_I wonder if I've put enough chocolate chips_, she thought as she put the cookie dough in the oven.

After she's finished placing the cookies in a bento box, she resumed her daily morning routine, and then looked for Tsuna and Gokudera.

"Aw Ami, you're so nice to actually take your time this morning to bake cookies for them" Kyoko smiled.

"Well, I think you're TOO nice" Hana commented as her and Kyoko walked alongside Ami.

"If you want to find Tsuna and the others, they're always at the rooftop"

"Really? Okay, I'll meet up with you two at the cafeteria later!" Ami said as she went off to find Tsuna and his friends.

Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto were at the rooftop of the school, as Kyoko predicted.

"Tsuna-kun, I made cookies for you, Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto-kun as a thank you for yesterday", Ami said as she approached the trio with her bento box.

"Oh, walking you home with under an umbrella? It's nothing, really. It was a sorry for knocking you aside yesterday morning, ahaha.." Tsuna laughed shyly, but accepted the cookies.

He took a bite from the cookie and started coughing.

"Uwahh ~ !! Did I burn them?!"

"No, not at all! They were too sweet…"

"Stupid woman, I told you not to bring trouble to Tenth!!" roared Gokudera, unfriendly as ever.

"Ah, SORRY!! SORRY!!" Ami bowed and apologized repeatedly.

"Gokudera-kun!!" sighed Tsuna, "it's alright Tanaka-san, we're grateful that you actually took the time to make cookies for us!"

"Yeah!" exclaimed Yamamoto as he threw his arm around Ami's shoulder "I'll eat anything from Ami-chan!"

Relieved, Ami stopped bowing and smiled. _They're so nice; I wonder why I haven't befriended them before._

After a while, Ami said bye to Tsuna's group and made her way to the cafeteria to where Kyoko and Haru are.

She was happily walking down an empty hallway when...

"**BAM!"**

She was pinned against the wall by 6 girls.

Ami recognized them straight away; the upperclassmen of Gokudera's fan club. They have a reputation as being notorious fan girls, only wanting Gokudera to themselves and threatening other girls who get close to him.

"Stay away from Gokudera-sama, you hear me?!" yelled the leader, Kumiko.

"Wait, huh?"

"Don't act stupid, you little bitch!" Kumiko yelled as she slapped her across the face, "We all saw you yesterday walking home with him and now you're baking him cookies?! Take this as a warning, don't go anywhere near him, okay?!"

And with that, the girls walked away leaving Ami not knowing what expression to put on.

Deep down, she felt something welling up inside her._ Confusion? Fear? No, this is something else._

Not knowing what to do, she shrugged it off and continued walking and joined Kyoko and Hana at the cafeteria table.

"How did it go?" Kyoko asked

"It was okay… I made the cookies too sweet…"

"I knew I should have tested the cookies before you gave it to them!" Hana suddenly yelled, snapping her fingers "You have the sweetest tooth I've ever seen!! 3 cups of sugar isn't enough for you!!"

"Was that Tanaka Ami?"

Tsuna and his friends turned to see the source of the voice, Reborn.

"Yes… Reborn, please don't think about dragging her into the mafia! She's too innocent!" Tsuna pleaded

"Far from that. In fact, stay away from her"

"What?" this piqued Gokudera's interest, "Reborn-san, wha-"

He looked up to see that Reborn has disappeared.

"Dammit, now I'm curious"


	4. Suspicion

Special thanks to xXxRedFullMoonxXx for reviewing!! ahaha, I'm going to try to update every day :)  
Oh and to those people who might not understand why I put some stuff in italics, it's to indicate thought or if a character is thinking something. I just don't like the idea of having to keep going, "thought _____"

* * *

_I wonder what Reborn-san meant by staying away from that Tanaka woman. What's so dangerous about her anyways? That damn woman is always so happy, it pisses me off_, Gokudera thought to himself as he walked home from school, casually ignoring the fan girls and dodging their attempts to glomp him.

_Maybe she's an assassin? Nahh, Reborn would have told us instead of giving that vague warning._

_Or maybe she's from a rival family. Yes, that could be it._

He started thinking of all the possible reasons why Reborn warned them to avoid her when...

Speak of the devil.

He saw her walking briskly to her house.

_Why's she in such a hurry..?_

Curiosity got the better of Gokudera as he trailed after the red head.

He watched her as she unlocked the door and stepped inside. Hesitantly, he peered in through her window.

_Relax Hayato; I'm doing this for Tenth's safety!!_

He watched Ami put on an apron and cook a casserole dish, and then hid in the bushes when she walked out to the front yard.

"Here, Riiku ~"

Gokudera turned to where Ami was facing, and to his surprise, he saw a stray cat crawl from behind a tree.

_Wait, so she was in a hurry... To feed a damn stray?!_

Gokudera stared in disbelief as he watched her for 2 hours, doing nothing but "normal people" stuff.

_No, I will not be fooled!! She has got to be acting. _

Sceptical, he picked up a small rock and threw it at her, testing her reflexes. To his surprise, she dodged perfectly then got up to look around her surroundings.

_I knew it!! She's the real deal. I can't tell anyone about this otherwise I'd be putting Tenth in danger! I'll be keeping a close eye on her from now on._

After feeding Riiku the stray cat, Ami did her homework, made herself dinner then cleaned up around the house. As she was mopping the floor, she slipped on wet floor and fell. At the same time, a small rock flew above her, just narrowly missing her face, but she didn't take notice of it. She got up and looked around to see if there were any people passing by her house who might have seen her embarrassing moment. No one. Good.

After seeing that everything in her house is clean, she walked over to the small table in the corner of her living room.

There was a picture of her ideal family that she drew as an 8 year old.

_Family…_ She thought, _I wonder what it's like to have one._

Ami contemplated on how life would have been if her family was with her.

Parents to watch and record a ballet recital, parents to attend a school play, buy her Christmas presents and be the first to greet her happy birthday in the morning, they would be there for her when she's in need of help, and a mother to talk about her problems with. Just trivial family things, but it would mean a lot to her.

She turned around; imagining that she was on a stage with her parents in the audience.

_Ahh, if only._

She did a small pirouette and smiled down to where her parents would have sat, waving and encouraging her from the audience. Then afterwards, they would all go together to dine in a restaurant as a congratulations for a successful show.

_Yes, if only._

Oblivious to Ami, Gokudera was watching the entire time.

_What the hell is she doing…?_ He thought.

Rushing back to reality, Ami walked to her living room to double-check if she locked her front door.

She stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes widened;

**There was a face at the window.**


	5. Scones

I was just reading "Digital Fortress" by Dan Brown. WOW. It's a really good book. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good book to read. But of course, keep reading my story as well :P  
I'm looking forward to any reviews and any constructive criticisms :)

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Ami stopped and stared at the window, horrified.

**"….…KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!"**

White hair, deathly glare…GHOST?!

She was rooted to the ground, paralyzed from fear.

Then she saw the ghost change expression from being frustrated to confused.

"What the hell is she doing now…?" Gokudera thought out loud.

After a long time of her awkwardly staring at him, Ami approached 'the ghost' in a cautious manner.

"Wait…Gokudera-kun?"

His face fell to an 'OMG I can't believe I'm wasting my time on this idiot' kind of expression.

"Oh dear! I'm so sorry!" Ami apologized rapidly bowing her head over and over.

"…woman, stop bowing and open the door or something" Gokudera said in an irritated tone.

"So, umm… why are you visiting me?" Ami smiled as she motioned for him to sit.  
He quietly obeyed while she went to the kitchen to prepare tea for her guest.

_Oh crap, I have to think of something._ "Ah. I just wondered if you wanted to do homework together" He lied.

"Homework? Sure!! I've always wanted to study together with someone!! Kyoko-chan and Haru-chan are always too busy afterschool…" she called from the kitchen.

_Okay good, it doesn't seem like she suspects a thing. Unless… she knows that I know about her and she's just playing along with me to fool me into thinking that she doesn't know that I know about her secret identity. This might be easier than I thought._

"Is that so?" He tried to force a smile which failed badly "…let's study everyday together"

Gokudera felt sick just by saying that.

Ami walked into the lounge room with a tray of scones, cookies and two cups of tea.

"Really?!?!?! Of course!!"

She sat the tray down on the table and sat opposite Gokudera.

Her expression fell as she remembered something.

"Gokudera-kun?" she asked, looking up at him "Actually, I have some maths homework that I don't really understand. Can you help me?"

Gokudera felt his face turn a slight red.

_Why is she looking at me with those cu- NO! I REFUSE TO ADMIT IT!! STAY STRONG HAYATO. REMEMBER, SHE'S A DANGEROUS WOMAN!!_

"S-sure".

After helping Ami out with her homework, Gokudera was almost convinced that she was a normal person, but half of him stayed resilient, knowing that she's a threat to Vongola. For every action that she does, inner Hayato believes that there is an ulterior motive.

"Thanks for helping me Gokudera-kun!! I'm actually going to make dinner now, would you like to join me?"

He instantly remembered the time when his sister Bianchi baked cookies for him.

"No. Actually, I should be going home now. Cya"

_Damn woman would probably poison me with her cooking. _

Ami walked with Gokudera outside her house and they said their goodbyes and Gokudera made his way home.

_Hmm... Studying with her everyday will be a good opportunity to monitor her_, he thought.  
_She has quick reflexes, good at acting, master manipulator… This woman is a pro. But for what reason would she be after Tenth? Vongola hasn't declared war on any mafia families since 11 years ago, and that battle was quickly resolved. I should hide what I know from the others for the meantime. I'll investigate her first._

He stopped in front of his house then looked back from where he walked.

_**I LIVE JUST AROUND THE CORNER FROM THE DAMN WOMAN?!**_

At that point, he was mentally bashing himself. How could he not have noticed?

But then he remembered that Tsuna lives further down his street.

They all live so close to each other. Tsuna could get attacked anytime.

Gokudera furrowed his eyebrows, thinking hard.

I guess I have to keep a closer watch on her then.

Gokudera woke up the next morning, knowing exactly what to do.

PROJECT: STALK AMI

The thought of stalking an idiotic person who's happy 24/7 aggravates him, but there's no other way to protect Tsuna.

Gokudera kept a close eye on Ami all morning

…."So what do you think Gokudera-kun?" asked Tsuna

"Huh?"

"Oh…I just asked…if you want to go to Yamamoto-san's restaurant…tonight with everyone-but you don't have to if you don't want to, I just thought you might like to come with us…" Tsuna said, looking scared and worried at the same time.

"Hmm? Sure why not."

"Ah okay, hey Gokudera-kun, are you alright? You seem to be out of it today…"

"Because he's been looking at Ami-chan all morning!!!" Yamamoto cut in, playfully punching Gokudera's arm.

"Ooh really?! Gokudera-kun, you like Tanaka-san?" Tsuna asked

"N-No!!! What the hell are you on about, baseball freak?! There's no way I'd like an irritating cheerful woman like her!!" he stated, feeling disgusted.

Yamamoto and Tsuna looked at each other and laughed.

"If you say so, Gokudera-kun… Ahaha, but Ami-chan is cute, so you don't have to hide it from us!!" Yamamoto started poking him.

"Poke me one more time and that's the last thing you'll ever do!!"

"OOHH~ Gokudera is going out with Ami-chan?! Congratulations TO THE EXTREME!!!" Ryohei popped up out of nowhere.

"Shut up, Lawn head!! Stop jumping to conclusions!!" Gokudera was fuming at this point.

"Hey isn't that Kyoko's brother with Tsuna and the others?" Hana pointed to Ryohei.

"Oh, yes it is. Why do you ask?" Ami turned to Hana.

"Ami, fooling me is like trying to bluff your way out of a death sentence. It's not gonna work."

"Huh?"

"Just tell him you like him already!!"

"Noo, it's not like that!! I just think he's a nice person, he's cheerful, caring…and good-looking…"

"And so are you, so what are you waiting for?!"

Ami didn't respond; she looked up at Hana with tears in her eyes.

"…Fine. Feel lucky that you have those damn puppy eyes. But next time, I WILL make you confess your never ending love to him"

After school, Ami walked next to Gokudera to do their newly-established homework plan.

_You can do it, Hayato. All you have to do is work out her purpose and try to stop her. I can do this by myself, without anyone's help! Then I will be officially promoted as Tenth's right-hand man. Chance!!_

Reborn watched as they made their way to Ami's house. "So, he's decided to investigate her, huh. Let's see how he reacts when he finds out more about her…"

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A/N: Oh and sorry about the random chapter name! "  
After writing about scones, I had a sudden craving for some, ahaha..  
I hope you enjoyed the chapter :)


	6. Agitated

Gokudera slumped down on his bed after arriving home from Ami's house.

_IT'S BEEN 5 DAYS AND NOTHING REMOTELY OUT OF THE ORDINARY HAS HAPPENED!!_

He got out of his bed and started cleaning the dust off some of his unused dynamite in his room to calm his nerves.

_Okay, let's re-think about this; Tanaka Ami, an annoying cheerful woman who has a completely innocent reputation in our school. She does all her homework on time and has never gotten a bad grade in her whole high school life. Reborn told us to stay away from her, so she must be after Tenth or a threat to Vongola…so what is she waiting for?! She has earned everyone's trust already, so why hasn't she made a move yet?!_

_But wait._

_What if her purpose ISN'T to strike when nobody suspects her? But then…what kind of strategy is that?_

_Wait._

_SHE WAS PLANNING THIS ALL ALONG!! She knows that I know about her!! She's after ME!!! She's going after Tenth's right-hand man, before she goes after Tenth!! That damn irritating woman. No wonder… She's trying to earn MY trust before she gets me!!!_

Gokudera snapped his fingers. That was it; he figured out her plan. Ami is probably an assassin hired to take out Vongola's Tenth boss!

_In that case, I'll pretend to trust her. When she thinks she's got me, she'll come after me. I'll take this opportunity to get rid of her. THEN I CAN BE OFFICIALLY PROMOTED AS TENTH'S RIGHT-HAND MAN!!_

Gokudera made a little victory pose, then resumed to his cleaning session.

Ami woke up the next day, happy as ever. She now finally understands maths, her worst subject. "And it's all thanks to Gokudera-kun~" she sang.

Since Ami got ready for school early, she decided she might just make him a bento lunch as thanks for helping her out on homework.

_I wonder if he likes sweet eggrolls._

After she finished making his lunch, she resumed her normal morning routine.

"Hey Ami, is that bento for Ryohei?" asked Hana.

"Ahh, no actually. It's for Gokudera-kun…" at that point, Kumiko's ear twitched from across the hallway.

"What the… why?" Hana looked confused

"It's thanks for helping me with my homework!"

"Oh. Alright then. But Ami, be careful with how you express your gratitude to guys, okay? Gokudera might take it the wrong way and think that you like him"

"It's alright, me and him are only friends!" and with that, she walked off to look for Gokudera.

"Ami… I'm actually more worried about how that bitch leader of his fan club is going to react…" Hana muttered to herself

"Gokudera-kun…" she said, approaching the trio "I-uhhh, made you some lunch as thanks for helping me these past few days"

Gokudera turned a shade of pink

_DAMMIT, I HAVE TO PRETEND TO TRUST HER, DON'T I_

"Thanks… I guess" he once again forced himself to smile, resulting in furrowed eyebrows and a smile, a half angry, half happy look.

Nevertheless, Ami grinned, proud of herself.

"Ooohhh~ what's all this??" teased Yamamoto

"Shut up, baseball freak" Gokudera ignored Tsuna and Yamamoto quietly giggling to each other, "So do you still need help with your homework or what"

Inner Hayato was now throwing himself at walls out of embarrassment.

"Ahh, I think I'm fine with maths now, thanks!" Ami replied.

_Wait, what. If she wanted to kill me or something, then she would have said yes, then wait for me to drop my guard when I'm at her house... Unless she's thinking that I have a ploy set up and I'll attack her first… If I insist on helping her then she'll know that something is up. Dammit, Hayato. Stay strong-stay strong-stay strong. _

"…Are you sure…?"

"Yeah. I do have some trouble with science now, but I think I can handle it!"

_GAHH!! She's testing me!! She's testing me and I know it!! Why can't she just get this over and done with?! Might as well just say "Hayato!! Go to my house so I can kill you!!" Okay, stay calm. WWJD (What would Juudaime Do) She's probably preparing to attack me tomorrow. Yes, that's it. Tomorrow. The final showdown._

"Oh. Alright" Gokudera replied, his right eye twitching.

"Anyways, I have to go back and have lunch with Hana-chan and Kyoko-chan now, thank you again!" Ami grinned and walked off, unaware of Kumiko's presence around the corner, fuming.

"Tanaka Ami. You're testing my patience" she grumbled, crushing a soda can with her hand out of anger.

Gokudera sat down and opened the bento box that Ami prepared for him.

It was the cutest eggroll that he's ever seen.

"Gokudera-kun!! You are so lucky to get lunch made by Ami-chan!!" Yamamoto chirped as he stared at the food.

"Yeah! It even has a face drawn on it!" Tsuna joined in

Gokudera's face turned red really fast.

_Must…resist…the eggroll_, he thought as he took a bite.

…

…

"…**HOW MUCH SUGAR DOES THE WOMAN PUT IN THIS THING?!"**

**

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thanks to everyone for reading ! ^^  
please review :) oh and just a note: the first few chapters are just to introduce and establish where the characters stand in the story, next chapter is where we start getting more into the storyline O__O


	7. Bully

**A/N:** I decided to post 2 chapters in one day, woo ~  
This chappie is pretty dramatic compared to the previous ones. Oh and just a warning, this chapter contains a bit of bullying and coarse language.  
Special thanks to me-CANINEtheCAT and xXxRedFullMoonxXx for reviewing :)  
I really appreciate it 3

* * *

"_Mommy!!!" she called to the woman lying on the ground._

"_Baby its okay… you'll be fine. Just smile and it'll all be okay. Keep smiling for me, please?"She managed to say._

"_But…"_

_-Silence-_

_A shadowy figure of a woman appeared behind the child stained in red._

_It whispered in her ear- "You're not alone"._

**"BEEP BEEP BEEP"**

Ami hit the snooze button and looked at the time.  
"What the… Why did my alarm go off at 3AM?"

She felt something stir within her, but she was too sleepy to notice.

_I'll wake up again at 6._

And with that, she quickly went back to sleep.

Ami woke up at 6 and resumed her normal routine, forgetting about her dream.

"Hmmm, it seems like a gloomy day today…"

She walked through the school gates and was greeted by Kyoko.

"Good morning, Ami-chan!"

"Good morning Kyoko-chan!! Ah, I forgot to ask yesterday, how did your exam go?"

"I think I did a-"

"KYOKOOOOOOOO!!" Ryohei interrupted, "You forgot your lunch TO THE EXTREME!!"

"Ahah… thanks onii-san…" She smiled brightly

"Oh, Ami-chan is here!!!" Ryohei looked at her for a long time, as if analyzing her.

She felt her cheeks warm up

"HOW'S YOU AND THAT OCTOPUS HEAD GOKUDERA GOING?!"

"Hu-"Ami got interrupted by the school bell

"AH SORRY NO TIME TO LISTEN, I'M IN HIBARI'S CLASS SO I CAN'T AFFORD TO BE LATE!! BYE KYOKO AND AMI!!"

Kyoko and Ami both stood there in confusion as they watched Ryohei run off to class.

"Hey, we should go to class too"

Class went as usual, with the exception of Tsuna and Yamamoto failing all their tests. Ami has Gokudera to thank for getting top marks in maths.

At lunch, Ami made her way to the cafeteria to join Haru and Kyoko.

Or was ABOUT to when Kumiko gave the signal for her other fan club members...

They all came out from behind the corner at the same time and dragged poor Ami inside the girls toilets and locked the door behind them.

In all the confusion, Ami couldn't utter a single word of protest.

Four of the girls grabbed by her hair and forced her to kneel in front of Kumiko.

"You piece of trash, I warned you not to go anywhere near Gokudera-sama, DIDN'T I?!" She inched closer to Ami.

"But I..."

"Shut up!!" one of the girls slapped her, Ami whimpered in pain.

_I'm scared..._

"Okay, so you baked him cookies… You've made him lunch… that alone is UNFORGIVEABLE" she glared down at Ami, "But then… I see you and him walking to your house every day after school. What's going on between you two, huh?! I HATE how you act so innocent, smiling all the time like you're at the top of the world, like you've got what we don't!!"

"There is noth-"

"Don't you dare try to deny it!!!" Kumiko's nostrils flared out of rage, "Just because you're placed in this situation… Don't you dare deny that you haven't done anything to Gokudera-sama! What is it, huh?! What is it about you that makes Gokudera-sama feel comfortable enough to walk home with you, to casually allow you to make food for him and actually eat it, to walk next to you, to look at you in the eyes, what is it about you that makes him look at you all morning?! What are you to Gokudera-sama?!"

All eyes were fixed on Kumiko, who's breathing hard from sheer anger and at Ami, who just stared at the ground, not knowing what to do.

"Ah. So… you're jealous?" Ami virtually thought out loud.

Everyone held their breath. _That girl has a death wish_, they all thought.

Kumiko knew Ami was right, but hated to admit it.

"Shut up, bitch!!" She slapped her.

Kumiko paused to take a deep breath to calm herself.

"Gokudera-sama must be attracted to your innocence, huh" she smirked, "let's see if he'll still look at you when we destroy that pretty little face of yours…"

She raised her eyebrow at the short, brunette girl next to her.

"Why don't we give you a little makeover…" the brunette smiled evilly.

_Someone..._

_Help...  
_

"No!! Please let me go!" pleaded Ami with tears in her eyes.

Her pulse quickened; the two girls holding onto her arms tightened their grip, her knees ached from kneeling on the cold tiles.

The brunette narrowed her eyes and punched Ami straight in the stomach.

She gagged and coughed from the blow.

Ami's eyes widened as she saw the brunette pull out a pair of scissors.

"Let's start with that ugly hair of yours…"

The girls laughed and jeered as tears streamed from Ami's eyes when the brunette snipped haphazardly at her hair.

Kumiko, enjoying Ami's suffering, nodded at two more girls who splashed Ami with water from a bucket.

She grabbed her hair and pulled Ami close to her face, coughing.

"How do you like that?! I told you not to piss us off! Heh, teaches you not to heed our warning!"

By then, Ami felt her heart beating at an odd pattern.

It kept skipping beats.

She heard the girls laughing harder, Ami looked up.

To her horror, Kumiko had a lighter in her hand.

Ami, on her knees, started pleading for them to stop; her tears wouldn't stop flowing from her eyes.

Kumiko kneeled down to her level; bring the lighter closer.

Ami, sensing her hopelessness in the situation screamed for help. She kept screaming and screaming, for maybe someone might hear her.

"Hey Hana-chan, Ami should have been here 15 minutes ago" Kyoko turned to her, worried.

"Hmm…" Hana looked around the room, clearly worried.

Gokudera's grubby fan club girls weren't sitting in their normal seats.

A horrible thought struck Hana.

"Kyoko, stay here just in case Ami returns" she ordered and ran to the rooftop, looking for Tsuna and his friends.

"Tsuna!! You have got to help me" She ran to them.

"What is it?" Tsuna looked concerned, seeing the urgency in Hana's expression.

"It's Ami. I think Kumiko has her. Please, help me look for her!!" she pleaded.

"Tanaka-san?! This is bad… of course I'll help you"

Without a second to lose, Tsuna and Yamamoto nodded and ran off to look for Ami, leaving Gokudera, still leaning against the fence.

"Gokudera, what are you waiting for?!"

"Hn. That woman can look after herself" he grunted, not making eye contact.

Hana gaped at him. Unbelievable.

"What the hell are you on about?! She can't!! I know Ami!!! I thought you were smarter than this, you bastard!! You, of all people, should know what that Kumiko is capable of!! Don't you dare try to pretend that you don't know! Please, I'm begging you!!" Hana's vision blurred as she dropped on her knees, "Gokudera, you know me. I don't beg people like this. But you should know Ami as well. She can't survive on her own!! She has no family, WE'RE her family! That's why I'm so worried about her. So please, just follow Tsuna's lead and look for her, dammit!!"

Gokudera stood with disbelief written all over his face. His brows furrowed and he looked down; considering what Hana said.

"Dammit…" he muttered and ran off to look for Ami, Hana followed after him.

"Thank you…"

Gokudera and Hana ran past the hallways, when they heard someone screaming for help.

They stopped; it was Ami's voice.

"She's inside the girls toilets!"

They both quickly rushed to the door, only to find it was locked.

"I'll do it" Gokudera said, vehemently as he took steps backwards, charged forward and kicked down the door.

Hana rushed in to get Ami, Gokudera shortly followed.

She stopped for a moment to study the situation;

Ami was being held down by two girls, forced to kneel on the bathroom floor.

She was surrounded by the whole fan club.

They poured water over Ami and her hair has been cut badly.

Hana's anger rose when she saw Kumiko holding a lighter, turn around to see who interrupted their session.

"Kurokawa Hana…" She glared, then grew wide-eyed as she spotted the person behind her.

"G-Gokudera-sama!" She took a step back.

"All of you… stay away from her, OR I WON'T FORGIVE YOU" he raised his voice against them.

Hana glanced at Gokudera. She has seen him put on a menacing expression many times before, but not like this one.

Ami looked up at them, smiling weakly "Hana-chan…"

Gokudera took out a cigarette, "by the time I light this, you damn women better be out of my sight".

His fan club didn't spare a single moment and ran out.

Hana ran up to Ami and put her arms around her.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Ami looked at Hana then to Gokudera.

_I was saved…_ she thought.

She started crying again, silently cursing herself for being so weak.

"I'm…"

She stopped.

She doesn't know what emotion to feel.

As if that thought was a catalyst, she felt a very strong pain from inside her chest, almost as if something was trying to get out.

She screamed from pain and clutched her chest, which felt like it was ripping apart.

"H-hey, what's going on?!" Hana looked so worried.

"I don't know!!"

She couldn't bear the pain any longer and passed out.


	8. Planning

Hey~  
Special thanks to Taylor Knight and Tsukiyu for reviewing :)  
I really appreciate it, and it gives me motivation, haha ^___^  
And thanks to xXxRedFullMoonxXx for recommending my story! :D

* * *

"Ami? Hey, Ami! Answer me!" Hana checked to see if she was conscious.

Gokudera stared with disbelief at the two girls in front of him.

_What's happening? The damn woman is a skilled professional; she's supposed to attack me today! How can she get knocked down so easily by a couple of bullies?  
Unless she's trying to show me that she's harmless…  
But that can't be it! This isn't right… if she's a professional, she wouldn't go through such lengths to prove her powerlessness, she would just attack me… _

_What if… she really is just innocent?_

_Heh, I'll just give her the benefit of the doubt for the meantime._

"Hey tough guy, help me out here" Hana interrupted his thought process, "She's out cold. Let's take her to the school nurse; he'll know what to do".

Gokudera took Ami and carried her in his arms and made their way to the infirmary.

"Unbelievable, those girls" Hana ranted "No offense, but you have really bad fan girls. You would think they'd just settle with buying you presents, attempt to make conversations with you, and be happy for you when they see you happy with someone. But they've gone too far. I swear, I will make Kumiko lick Ami's feet for forgiveness".

"Hn" Gokudera replied, hardly interested

For someone that he was so sure of being a professional assassin, she looked to be the exact contradiction of everything that he's accused her of.

Her hair had been cut short; almost to her shoulders, he wasn't used to seeing her face so clearly because of her long red hair.  
In that moment, Gokudera realized that he has never really taken notice of her appearance. Everything about her seemed to plant the word 'innocent' in his head. From her long, curled eyelashes to her…pink lips.

He felt his face warm up

If one word described her right now, it would be …angelic?  
Gokudera tried to shake that thought out of his head.  
He then noticed something else.

Ami was really light.

He thought back to the time when she dodged sharply away from a rock that he threw at her.

_This can't be right. _

Her body-type is too delicate to do anything strength-related.

_If she's not a professional assassin, then what is she?_

Gokudera noticed the bruises on her left cheek; she must've gone through quite an ordeal. He felt a wave of sympathy and a bit of guilt.

_It was because I was seen near her. Because of me…  
Hayato, get a grip of yourself!  
This woman played with fire, she got burned. I'm from the mafia, she shouldn't be anywhere near me to begin with. And not to mention Reborn's warning…_

"Drip…drip…"

Gokudera looked down on the floor and noticed a trail of droplets of water, then looked at Ami.  
_They threw a bucket of water at her, huh.  
_Her wet hair clung to the sides of her face; her shirt was almost see-through…  
_Wait. Hayato what are you doing? MAINTAIN YOUR INNOCENCE!_

He set her down on the nurses on the infirmary bed whilst Hana was explaining to the nurse about what happened. He no longer felt the need to stay and left to the rooftop to look for Tsuna and tell him about what happened.

"Ahh, poor Tanaka-san…" Tsuna sympathized "Well… as long as she's okay now, then everything's alright, I guess"

"Let's hold a party to cheer Ami-chan when she gets better!" a bulb lit over Yamamoto's head

"That's a great idea, Takeshi-kun!" Tsuna joined in

"H-hoy! That's what I was thinking, Baseball freak!" Gokudera lied, feeling jealous that Yamamoto got praised by Tsuna

"We'll hold the party at my dad's restaurant on Friday" Yamamoto ignored Gokudera's complaints

"Yeah! Your dad makes great food; we can introduce Tanaka-san to Dino and the others!"

"Oh and we'll invite Hana-chan and Kyoko-chan too!" Yamamoto suggested

"Ah, yes! Let's invite them and Haru-san!" Tsuna's face brightened up at the mention of Kyoko

Whilst the two were enthusiastically planning a party for Ami, they were unaware of Gokudera sulking in the corner.

"Damn Baseball freak" he pouted while drawing imaginary shapes on the ground with his index finger.

While all of this happened, Reborn was taking notes of the events that occurred in a file titled "Tanaka Ami"

"I've finished assessing her."


	9. Haircut

Hey everyone ~  
Sorry for the lack of updates recently, homework sure is a killer D:  
Oh and sorry for this really short chapter, I'll make it up to you really soon !

* * *

"_You can't live without me"…._

_She looked around to find the source of the voice._

"_I have what you need... Sa…" the voice trailed off into the darkness._

"_Just smile and it'll all be okay" A new voice called out.  
_

"MO-"Ami jolted awake.

"Oh you're awake, kiddo" Hana looked relieved

"Ahaha, yeahh. Sorry for worrying you"

"It's not your fault" she sighed, patting Ami on the head, "It's that damn Kumiko's fault. I won't forgive her, even if she was to kneel on the floor and beg for forgiveness, I will not rest until I throw three bricks at her head!"

Ami looked at Hana, "Yeahh...I was very scared, actually. I didn't know what they were going to do…But it's alright now, let's forget this thing ever happened, okay? I don't want Kyoko-chan to get worried"

Hana flashed a hint of disbelief in her face, "Are you serious? So what you're saying is that despite what they did to you, you're choosing to forget it?" She sighed again, "Fine. If it's what you want, then we'll forget this thing happened. Sometimes I admire that side of you, being able to keep your cool like this. But the problem now is your hair. Want me to fix it up for you?"

"Oh, thank you. I also think it's a great time for a change of hairstyle anyways"

* * *

After informing Kyoko that Ami is alright, Hana went to Ami's house to fix up her hair.

"Holy crap, you live alone, yet you manage to keep this whole place super clean?" she looked around in awe

Ami nodded.

"Okay, let's get this thing started. Sit in front of the mirror" Hana instructed, "And don't worry, I cut my cousin's hair all the time"

Ami obeyed and sat in front of the mirror and watched as Hana carefully cut her hair.

"Whoa." Hana said when she saw that she has finished.

Ami stood up then turned around, Hana has never seen her with shoulder-length hair.

"Hey, you don't really hear this from me, so I'm gonna say this once: you look great" Hana complimented

"Really? Thanks!"

'KNOCK KNOCK'

Ami opened the front door, wondering who it was.

"ME AND KYOKO HAVEN'T SEEN YOU TWO ALL DAY!" Ryohei stood at the doorway grinning, "WE JUST WA-"His sentence was cut short when he took notice of Ami's appearance change.

"A-Ami-chan?" He started blushing furiously

Kyoko appeared from behind her brother "Wow Ami-chan! You look really nice!"

"Ahaha, thanks. Oh that's right, do you two want to stay over for dinner?"

"Dinner? Of course!" Kyoko and Ryohei yelled at the same time

* * *

Hana, Ryohei and Kyoko gaped at the feast laid out for them.

A mountain of rice, fried pork, lamb chops, rice balls, thai green curry and pork skewers.

"AND THIS IS WHY I LOVE AMI-CHAN'S COOKING TO THE EXTREME!" Ryohei dug at the food with no hesistation

Hana glanced to her side and saw Ami trying to hide a grin

_Ahhh~ that girl is so easy to see through, _she thought

Hana took a bite out of a rice ball.

_**WHY DOES SHE PUT SUGAR IN THIS THING?  
**_

_**

* * *

**_Thanks for reading ^^  
Sorry about the line dividing different parts of the story "  
It looks pretty bad and out of place, but something happened and it won't let me seperate things into paragraphs, so this is the best I can do right now.  
Reviews are most welcome, so please tell me if there's something I need to improve on or anything ^^


	10. Party

Yayyy ~ A new chapter :)  
Just a thank you for reading my story, lol 3

* * *

"Hey, wake up"

"Hnnnn.. five more minutes…"

"Ami, don't make me do this…."

Ami could barely open one eye when she felt someone poking her side.

"AAHAHA- stop! I'm ticklish!" She quickly sat up, now wide awake

She looked at the person next to her, then at the time

"Hana-chan? What are you doing here..? It's only 5 AM!"

"Oh, I let myself in. After all, you gave me spare keys to your house" She replied, casually dangling the keys, "I forgot to tell you that we have no school today. Instead, me and Kyoko decided to take you out shopping for new clothes. Really, I think you should wear something nicer than sweaters and track pants. Oh and Yamamoto invited us to a party tonight, so I think you wanna impress Ryohei… hmm?"

Hana playfully nudged Ami.

Ami blushed, trying to hide a smile "Alright…"

"Okay great, Kyoko's downstairs waiting for us. Let's get you ready and we're off!"

"She's here as well? How early do you two wake up…?"

"No time. Get ready" Hana replied with minimal words as she dragged Ami out of bed- literally and pushed her to the bathroom whilst she went to look for clothes for Ami to wear.

Ami sighed as she stepped in the shower

_Impress Ryohei-kun…huh._

_He likes the food I prepared for everyone ~_

That one thought made her smile broadly, feeling proud of herself.

After she finished showering, she went to her room to find the clothes that Hana laid out for her.

"No way… I'm not going to wear that…" She was completely against the short dress on her bed

"Yes you are!" Hana called out from downstairs "It'll look cute on you!"

Ami pouted and looked at the dress. It was white with a bit of light-blue floral prints and goes down to her mid-thighs. Next to the dress was a small white bag.

_Well, it does look cute…_

_

* * *

_

Kyoko looked around the room, taking notice of each picture on the wall that Ami drew.

"Okay I'm ready~"

Kyoko saw Ami pacing down the stairs "Ami-chan you look so pretty!"

Ami smiled at the compliment.

"Okay we're all set…its 7 am already? Whoa Ami, you took 2 hours to get ready" Hana appeared from the kitchen.

The trio left Ami's house and spent the majority of the day shopping and looking for clothes for Ami.

In the end, they were carrying 3 massive shopping bags each.

"Umm, are you sure it's okay to buy all of these clothes for me…?" Ami asked, feeling guilty

"Hey, don't feel bad about this. Think of it as this way… It's for our sake as well. After all, me and Kyoko had been seeing you in nothing but those old clothes of yours" Hana replied, patting Ami in the back.

"Anyways should we go to Yamamoto-kun's house?" Asked Kyoko, clearly excited

Kyoko led Hana and Ami to Yamamoto's restaurant, delightfully showing it off like it's her own

"Doesn't it look pretty?" She asked so happily, it pressured the two to agree with her

Kyoko knocked on the door and waited for someone to open it

* * *

"Baseball freak… You are lucky that Tenth ordered me not to DESTROY you…" Gokudera gritted his teeth out of anger as he stood in a…. carrot suit.

_I look so stupid! No one's going to take me seriously after tonight!,_ Gokudera thought.

"Ahahaha… Endure it, Gokudera-kun~ it's all to make the girls laugh!" Yamamoto had to restrain himself from bursting into a laughing fit.

"KNOCK, KNOCK"

"Gokudera-kun, I think Kyoko-chan, Ami-chan and Kurokawa-san are here now~" Tsuna blissfully sang

_GOODBYE DIGNITY_

"Yes, yes" He replied and hesitantly opened the door

"Hi and shuttup" His eyes were tight shut to save himself from embarrassment.

"…AHAHAHAHAHHAH!"

He opened his eyes to see who was standing in front of him

_Who's that…? Wait, red head? Tanaka Ami?_

Gokudera's eyes widened as he cupped his hands over his mouth, blushing.

_I never knew she looked like this… WAIT, HAYATO! EDURE! ENDURE!_

Gokudera, with his hands still over his mouth and blushing furiously, inched further and further away from the door until he was against the wall on the other side of the room.

"What a sight. A guy whose face is the same colour as the carrot suit he's wearing, pressed against a wall" Hana said, clearly mocking him.

"Whoaa Ami-chan! Your haircut looks really good~!" Yamamoto said, stepping around Gokudera

"Ah thanks!"

Gokudera looked at Ami.

_Just getting a haircut can make someone look so different. _

He thought back to the time when he carried her to the infirmary and got even redder… if that was possible

* * *

"Ah that's right!" Tsuna suddenly remembered the other guests in the room, "Kyoko-chan, Ami-chan and Kurokawa-san, this is Dino-san, Lambo, Bianchi-san, Fuuta-kun and Chrome-san.  
He pointed to a blonde guy, then to a little kid in a cow costume, a tall and pretty woman wearing a face mask, a little boy and a girl around their age with an eye patch.

"Oh hello!" Kyoko and Ami said at the same time, whilst Hana waved.

"Ohhh! Let's play that game that ranking game that Fuuta-kun can do!" suggested Yamamoto

"Ahh good idea~!" Gokudera agreed, looking at Tsuna, then at Fuuta then back at Tsuna

Everyone in the room sat down. Ami, Kyoko and Hana followed suit.

Ami watched with interest as Fuuta whipped out a large book and started concentrating.

"Wha-" Ami, Kyoko and Hana were astonished when everything in the room started flying.

"Okay, let's start off with an easy question" said Fuuta

"Do a love ranking" Bianchi suggested

"Bianchi-san's love ranking number 1 is… Reborn-san" Fuuta replied

"Alright, they're accurate" Bianchi said, looking satisfied with Fuuta's rankings.

"Ooh-ooh-ooh! What about mine?" Yamamoto pointed to himself

"Takeshi-nii's love ranking number 1 is… Baseball"

Everyone looked at Yamamoto oddly.

"Ahaha, I guess he's right" Yamamoto laughed and scratched his head

"How about… the 5 strongest people in this room?" Gokudera asked with an unreadable question on his face

"Strongest person number 5… Takeshi-nii  
Strongest person number 4… Hayato-nii  
Strongest person number 3… Dino-nii  
Strongest person number 2… Tsuna-nii  
Strongest person number 1…

**Ami-chan**"

* * *

A/N: Hey guys, sorry if this chappie was a bit iffy... my dog actually died when I was in the middle of writing this, but I wanted to update as soon as possible :)  
I'm alright now, so I'll be updating regularly now :)


	11. Party: part 2

Yay, 2 chapters in one day ~  
Thanks to crystalstar83, HapiN3ss, ChinaDang and xXxRedFullMoonxXx for the review :)  
And also, thank you for being concerned about my dog ,  
I don't really know what to say, actually ahah, but thank you :)

* * *

**RECAP:** "How about… the 5 strongest people in this room?" Gokudera asked with an unreadable question on his face

"Strongest person number 5… Takeshi-nii  
Strongest person number 4… Hayato-nii  
Strongest person number 3… Dino-nii  
Strongest person number 2… Tsuna-nii  
Strongest person number 1…

**Ami-chan**"

* * *

Everyone turned to look at Ami with a look of shock and disbelief, except for Kyoko and Hana who are confused.

"…eh?" Ami didn't know how to react

_Me? Stronger than 4 other guys? No way!_

Ryohei stood up and sat right in front of Ami, rubbing his chin.

"Really? Ami-chan?" He pondered "WANT TO JOIN MY BOXING CLUB?"

"ah, well-"

"So wait, are you saying that not only is Ami stronger than Yamamoto, Hayato, Dino and Sawada… She's also stronger than me?" Bianchi looked slightly offended

_It's probably not true anyways, how can I be the strongest out of everyone on the room? _

"Sawada is strong?" Hana questioned

Ami turned to Kyoko and Hana, who shrugged their shoulders, then looked at Gokudera with a somewhat grim look on his face.

_Is Gokudera-kun offended because Fuuta-kun said I'm stronger than him? There has got to be some sort of misunderstanding! I'm pretty sure I'm not strong!, _Ami thought to herself.

* * *

_I KNEW IT! I KNEW THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THAT RED HEADED WOMAN! THIS TRULY CONFIRMS THAT SHE HAS HIDDEN INTENTIONS! GOOD WORK, HAYATO!, _Gokudera celebrated to himself

"No. That's inaccurate" A voice came from the back of the room

Everyone turned around; it was Reborn standing next to Hibari Kyoya.

"UWAHHH HE'S SO CUTE!" Ami and Kyoko fawned over Reborn

"He's here?" Gokudera pointed at Hibari.

"Of course, I invited him to join us" Reborn replied, "Hibari's presence automatically deems that ranking inaccurate"

Gokudera turned to look at Fuuta, who is curled up on the ground, then looked at Tsuna who looked outside the window.

"Oh look, it's raining!"

At that moment, inner Hayato's celebration stopped.

_DAMMIT, THERE GOES MY SUPER MEGA STRATEGY._

Gokudera glanced at Hibari, who was giving everyone in the room the biggest death glare he's ever seen. But it was expected, seeing as he hated crowds and here he was… in a party.

Without anything to do in the party other than stand in his carrot suit, he slumped down on the nearest chair and watched everyone enjoy themselves.

Gokudera scanned the room, seeing how everyone interacted with each other.

Tsuna, Kyoko, Ryohei and Ami were sitting in a small circle, talking to each other.

Hana and Bianchi were trading cooking secrets, although he knows what the results would be.

Fuuta and Yamamoto were looking after Lambo.

Reborn was talking to Dino and Hibari something.

_Come to think of it, why am I still wearing this carrot costume? And why am I the only person wearing it? I bet it's that Baseball freak tr-_

"Hey!" Ami poked Gokudera's cheek, interrupting his thought process, "It's a party, you shouldn't be by yourself! Look, even Hibari-san is talking to people!"

"Hoy!" Gokudera protested as Ami dragged him to Tsuna, Kyoko and Ryohei.

"AHAHA, you should see yourself! A carrot sitting by himself in the middle of a party!" Ryohei laughed and pointed at him

"S-shut up, lawn head!" Gokudera squirmed to get out of the costume

_Holy crap, the zipper is stuck! Okay, Hayato, maintain your composure. Just… act casual. Act casual._

"Uhh… Should we get some more food for everyone?" Tsuna said, attempting to change the subject

"Ohhh! Me and the girls can cook together!" Bianchi piped up, overhearing what Tsuna said.

Gokudera and Tsuna facepalmed.

_Oh God. Not her. _

"That's a great idea!" Ami jumped up and walked to Bianchi, "I heard from Kyoko-chan that you're good at cooking!"

_SHE'S ANYTHING BUT GOOD AT COOKING!_

"Okay, we're going to cook now~" Bianchi glided to the kitchen with Chrome, Ami, Kyoko and Hana following after her.

The guys waited until they were out of earshot

"What are we going to do?" They said, suddenly in a group huddle, with the exception of Hibari.

"We can make Tsuna eat them" Reborn suggested

"AIIIEEEE! Reborn!" Tsuna objected

"If I shoot the dying will bullet at Tsuna, he can eat them"

"Ahh! That's right!" Gokudera agreed

"But Reborn! I don't want to end up in just my boxers in front of everyone!" Tsuna objected again, "Why don't we make Lambo use the 10-year bazooka?"

"What 10-year bazooka?" Lambo lied.

Tsuna facepalmed again.

"Okay everyone, I have a plan" Dino half-whispered, "If all else fails… We'll go with Formation C"

"Formation C?" Gokudera, Tsuna and Yamamoto asked

"Yes. You'll understand soon enough~" Dino smirked

"Okay! We're finished!" Ami called from the kitchen

"We made ramen for everyone!" Kyoko brought out a tray of bug-infested ramen with the distinct odour of various chemicals.

The guys looked at each other in fear.

"H-HIBARI WANTED TO TRY IT FIRST!" Ryohei quickly pointed to an empty corner.

_What. THE BASTARD RAN AWAY!_

Everyone went pale as they saw the girls bring out the bowls of ramen and place them on the table.

"Wow, Bianchi-san, you really are good at cooking!" Ami smiled at her

"Fufufu, it's all for love~" Bianchi turned to Reborn, who started eating the food.

_HE'S IMMUNE TO BIG SIS' COOKING!_

"Hayato, would you like to eat as well?" Bianchi pulled out a chair for him.

_GAAAAAAAHHHH! SHE'S PUT ME IN THE SPOT! WHAT DO I DO! _

"Okay, it doesn't seem like Lambo is going use the bazooka anytime soon… FORMATION C!" Dino ran for the door.

_Wait, formation C was to run away?_

"And where are you going, hmm?" Bianchi stood in front of the door.

At that point, all hope was lost for the boys.

Tsuna fainted out of sheer terror.

"Listen" Ryohei whispered to Gokudera and Yamamoto, "If I don't make it tonight… Tell Kyoko that my inheritance goes to her"

"What inheritance" Gokudera smirked

"Don't you want to try what the girls cooked for you?" Bianchi said it so nicely that it was almost menacing.

"I think… I can see the light…" Yamamoto whispered.

_Goodbye world. I knew that being Tenth's right-hand man was too good of a position for me…_

Suddenly Reborn shot a bullet at Tsuna, who immediately awoke in nothing but his boxer shorts and a flame on his forehead.

"EAT THE RAMEN AS IF I WERE TO DIE!"

The boys watched Tsuna with tears in their eyes.

"HE SAVED US!"

_I TAKE BACK WHAT I THOUGHT BEFORE! BEING TENTH'S RIGHT-HAND IS MADE FOR ME!_

Hana nudged at Kyoko and whispered something to her, who in turn, looked confused

* * *

"See, he wanted to eat the food that you cooked "Ami heard Hana whisper to Kyoko

"Oh wow, will you look at the time, it's pretty late" Dino looked at his watch

Ami looked at the clock on the wall. It was 1AM.

"Oh dear, I think I should get going as well!" Ami said

"Yeah, me too" Tsuna agreed.

In the end, everyone decided it was time to go home.

They said their thank you's and goodbyes to Yamamoto and his father for the party.

"Hey, woman" Ami turned to see Gokudera around the corner outside of the restaurant, "Help me out of this thing"

"Sure thing" She said, trying to undo the carrot costume zipper, "Your friends are really great."

"Yeah" he replied, not particularly interested.

"The zipper is stuck"

"Yeah I know"

After 5 minutes of silence, Ami finally undid the zipper of Gokudera's carrot costume.

"Well then… I'll see you at school on Monday?" She said, making her way home.

"Idiot. I walk the same way home as you" He walked next to her.

Ami looked up at Gokudera; he was looking up at the sky and walking with his hands behind his head.

She smiled and looked down at her feet, then noticed something…

_Tsuna-kun said it was raining before… Why isn't the ground wet?_

_

* * *

_A/N: Thanks for reading :)  
Based on Ami's observations... does that mean it wasn't really raining?

:O


	12. Parttime

SORRY GUYS FOR TAKING FOREVER TO UPDATE !  
To make up for it, I'll be updating like a machine in the next few days :)  
And a super thank you to the people who reviewed and added my story on their favourites~!  
And just thank you for reading my story ^^

* * *

"BEEP BEEP BEEP"

Ami fought to free her hand from the blanket and pressed the snooze button.

It was 8AM on a Saturday morning and she is in a hurry.

Ami followed her morning routine and rushed out the door.

_I'm late, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late…_

She rushed past busy streets, numerous people and she swore she saw Yamamoto, but it didn't matter to her at that time.

She stopped outside a café and walked in.

"Amiiiiiiiiiii~ you're late!" A woman with blonde, curly hair in about her mid-20s shook her head at Ami.

"Ah. *pant* Sorry, for some reason, my alarm clock went off one hour late *pant x 3*" She replied, out of breath.

"No time for excuses. Heads up" her manager threw pink shorts and a white jumper in the air for her to catch.

Ami ran to the staff rooms to change into her uniform and ran back out to hear her manager's instructions

"We're really busy today, so do what you normally do, but half the time, and remember…"

"Customer service is the selling point" Ami finished her sentence

"Okay, good girl, now get crackalakin"

Ami worked diligently all morning. Cleaning tables, taking orders and serving customers their food.

"Hey! Hey cutie! We're waiting to order!" A group of guys called to Ami

She smiled, walking up to them "May I take your order?"

"UWAAHHH~ she is so cute!" they pointed at her

"So what would you recommend…Ami?" One of the guys asked, reading her name tag.

"Well as for me, I really like blueberry pancakes so… I'd recommend that" She said, pointing at the pancakes on the menu.

"Okay then, we'll have 5 blueberry pancakes and 3 orange juices, thanks!" The guy gave her a thumbs-up

"Okay, it'll be ready soon~" She wrote down their order and handed it up to the counter

"Ami-chan, Ami-chan!" another group of guys called her

"Oh, Mori-kun, Yusuke-kun and Takumi-kun!" She greeted her regular customers, "The usual?"

"Yep!" They agreed in unison.

She wrote down their order and handed it to the counter.

"Geez Ami, most of these regular customers are here because of you" the girl at the counter sighed, "hey hey, what's your secret? ~"

"Ah, that's not true, ahaha" Ami shook her head

"C'mon, look around you. Most of the guys here in this café are your fan boys"

Ami didn't reply; but instead gave her a pleading look as if to say 'please don't say that…'

"G-gwahhh Ami-chan you're so cute!" the girl at the counter fan-girl'ed, "Oh and manager told me to tell you to serve one more customer then you can have your break. How about… that cutie over there"

She pointed towards a customer whose back is turned to them.

Ami approached the customer, "Hello, may I take your order?"

He turned to look at her.

"R-Ryohei-kun?"

"UWOOOOOOO~ AMI-CHAN! YOU WORK HERE?" he suddenly stood up.

"Ahaha, yeahh…" she sweatdropped.

"Well then, I can't keep you waiting then! I'll have… waffles and a hot chocolate TO THE EXTREME!" He shouted and raised his fists up in the air, attracting attention from other customers

"Oh it's alright; I'm having my break after I serve you"

"Ah. THEN DOUBLE MY ORDERRR! We'll eat together during your break!" he scratched the back of his head and smiled

"It's alright Ryohei-kun, you don't have to do this" She waved her hand dismissively

"NONSENSE! YOU DESERVE A BREAK!" He suddenly stood up once again, scaring the customers nearby.

"Bu-"

"No! I INSIST!"

"Ahh… Okay" Ami gave up

She delivered Ryohei's order to the counter then returned and sat opposite him.

_RYOHEI-KUN IS TREATING ME! WHAT DO I DO? WHAT DO I DO? I'LL JUST KEEP CALM AND BE MYSELF._

"So-"

"IS THE AIR-CON TOO COLD?" Ami burst out

_Dammit._

Ryohei looked at her, wide-eyed.

"AHAHA no the temperature here is perfect compared to outside"

"ahhh okay" she was mega embarrassed at her sudden outburst

Ryohei's face lit up as one of the workers delivered his order

"UWOOHH! THE FOOD LOOKS SO GOOD!" he yelled, causing the poor waitress to jump in fright.

Ami laughed at Ryohei's enthusiasm.

"AMI-CHAN, HERE'S YOUR FOOD~"

"Thank you, Ryohei-kun!"

"Let's eat!"

Both of them talked, laugh and ate until there was nothing on their plate.

She took a sip of the hot chocolate

"Ami-chan, I heard you and Gokudera are going out~" Ryohei grinned

She spat out her drink- "H-HUH?"

"OOH! WAS THAT MEANT TO BE A SECRET? DON'T WORRY AMI-CHAN, IT'S SAFE WITH ME!"

"Ah no, it's no-"

"Although I am amazed that you were able to get through to him…" he half wondered to himself

"N-"

"BUT IT'S ALRIGHT; I COMPLETELY SUPPORT BOTH OF YOU!"

"But we-"

"AMI-CHANNNNN~ COME BACK TO WORK NOWWW~" Her manager called.

"Ahhh, I have to go now" Ami stood up and bowed to Ryohei who in turn, smiled and patted her head.

"I'll see you at school?" He asked

"Yep!"

Ami went back to work, but looked around the corner to see Ryohei leave.

"Ah~ Ami-chan is so obvious" She heard her workmates gossiping

"Guys, I can hear you" She sweatdropped

"We know" They laughed, "Why haven't confessed to him?"

"I-I don't know…"

"Oh Ami, you're too shy for your own good. One day some random girl is going to come and take that boy away from you"

Those words stayed with Ami for the rest of her shift.

Afterwards, she walked home, deep in thought.

_I ate in a café with Ryohei-kun~!_, she blushed at that thought.

_But he thinks that I'm dating Gokudera-kun…_

She remembered what her workmate said; _someone might take him away, huh… I don't want that to happen… Is it selfish to think like that? Am I a selfish person for wanting to be by Ryohei-kun's side? _

As she continued walking, she felt the familiar pain in her chest.

_Why am I hurting like this?_

Unknown to Ami, a man was hiding in the shadows nearby, watching her.


	13. Unveiling: Part 1

Reborn looked outside Tsuna's window.

"It's so boring nowadays" He heard Yamamoto complain

"Not for long" Reborn muttered

"What was that, Reborn?" Tsuna asked

Reborn didn't reply, but a bubble came out of his nose instead.

"Ahh. He fell asleep…"

"BZZT, BZZT"

Reborn's nose-bubble popped as he pulled out a large phone from his pocket, almost bigger than his face.

It was a message: **WE KNOW ABOUT VONGOLA'S "BAMBINO NASCOSTO"**

"What was it?"

Reborn once again didn't reply as he hopped out the window and made his way to Namimori High.

"Yep, things are going to get interesting. Time to visit Hibari…"

* * *

Gokudera peered around the corner, the coast is clear.

He tip-toed his way through the school hallway

_Where is suspicious woman?_

To Gokudera, Ami has been promoted from 'damn woman' to 'suspicious woman'.

"OHHH! GOKUDERA!" He jumped as Ryohei suddenly appeared behind him

"Gwa- Octopus head! What are you doing here?"

"Ami-chan is at the gardens with Kyoko and Kurokawa-san"

"Oh al… Why are you telling me this…?" Gokudera eyed him suspiciously

"Well you miss her, don't you?"

"….WHAT? For the last time, I-"

"It's okay! I understand that you two want to keep it a secret!"

Gokudera saw no point in trying to convince the idiot, turned around and walked towards the front door of the school building, leading to the gardens outside.

_That lawn head has no idea what I sacrifice for Vongola. I could have been spending time with Tenth!_

Just as Ryohei stated- Ami was at the gardens. But she was by herself. For once.

He squinted to see what she was doing; is she doing anything suspicious?

But to Gokudera, anything that Ami does is automatically considered as suspicious.

He crept closer, not wanting to be seen.

She was carrying a pile of neatly arranged sticks.

_What is she doing with that?_

"How are you feeling?" She seemed to be talking to the pile of sticks.

_Yep, she's finally lost it. _

Something inside the pile of sticks stirred. A bird?

"Oh! Your wings are healing nicely!" Ami smiled and talked to the bird.

_She must have arranged the pile of sticks for that bird. _

Two birds landed on Ami's shoulder

"Red Gabriel! Flappy!"

_She has bad naming sense._

Gokudera looked on with disbelief as three more birds landed on her right arm.

"Yellow Midge! Birdy! Apple Tart!"

_…_

At that point, he really didn't know what sort of expression to put on his face when five more birds landed on Ami.

_What is she, some sort of nesting ground for birds? _

He smirked as Ami grinned from ear to ear, virtually covered in birds.

_I'm stalking an idiot…_

_

* * *

_

Hibari Kyoya was sitting on his disciplinary office as usual, disapproving many of the school's events and keeping track of the various students that require his attention.

"Hibari" a voice came from the window.

"Toddler" He walked towards the window, "what do you want?"

"One of your students are being targeted"

"That's their problem" He shrugged and walked back to his desk, "was that all that you came here for?"

"Basically, yes"

"That's surprising. You don't usually come here to bug me for such a trivial reason"

"Because it's not trivial" Reborn simply said. "Tanaka Ami"

Hibari didn't even bother to look up at Reborn upon hearing the name.

"What about her? Model student, obeys every rule, adheres to the uniform code, hardly fails a grade… But she's not worth my interest. Get those other herbivores to protect one herbivore"

"That's the thing; they don't know about this and I don't plan on telling them any time soon"

This caught Hibari's attention, "Is there a deeper reason as to why she's being targeted?"

"Yes"

"And her pursuers are powerful?"

"I assume they are"

Hibari picked up his pen and thought over his options.

Protecting an annoying little herbivore was the last thing on his mind, but on the other hand he might find a strong opponent.

"…Fine but expect me to protect her MY way" He threw his pen at Reborn.

Reborn caught the lightning-fast pen, much to Hibari's amusement, "Alright".

And with that, he jumped from the window and disappeared.

* * *

"AAAAAH~ I'm glad school's finished for the day~" Ami let out a long sigh.

"Yeah, I'm all worn out!" Kyoko agreed

"That's because both of you were playing volleyball like little children" Hana sighed.

"Haha, that might be true. But we had fun at gym class, didn't we Ami?" Kyoko laughed

"Yeah!"

Something stirred in the corner of Hana's eye. Was it a cat or something?

She turned around; there was no one there.

_That's strange… _She thought, but tried to shake the thought of someone following them.

_After all, no one would have a reason to follow us…right?_

"Okay, this is my stop!" Ami grinned, "I'll see you tomorrow~"

"Bye" Kyoko and Hana said at the same time

They continued walking to their own house, "Hey Hana-chan, I didn't mention this earlier because Ami-chan would get worried, but did you get the feeling that we were being followed?"

"Actually, yes"

"Umm, that feeling stopped after we dropped off Ami"

* * *

OOOOOH ~  
What's with this "Bambino Nascosto"?  
And why are these people targetting Ami?  
Stay tuned to find out :)

Thanks for reading :)  
Please review when you get the chance 3


	14. Unveiling: Part 2

Yay~ This is the longest chapter I've ever written :)

Thank you to everyone for reading and reviewing, I'm really grateful 3

* * *

Hibari Kyoya looked outside the window to watch the students scramble to class as soon as the bell rang.

"Tanaka Ami…" He thought out loud as he spotted her along the crowd, "for what reason would she be targeted?"

That's when he saw it; a man dressed a tuxedo following her.

She's being targeted by the mafia?

Hibari smirked, "this is more like it"

He figured that simply attacking the stalker won't get him anywhere. Experience tells him that the man would probably be a weakling. He might let the man follow Ami for a bit more whilst he uses Hibird to get any information from him. After Hibari finds out where their hideout is, he'll enjoy biting them to death.

"Hibari-san! There's a couple of late comers, would you like us to handle it?" Kusakabe burst into the room

"Yeah, they're herbivores" Hibari replied without looking up at him.

"Yes sir!" He saluted and left the room.

Hibari walked towards the window of the reception room once again and looked at the man in the tuxedo hiding behind a lamp post, taking notes and looking through his binoculars.

"Hibird, try to get some information about that guy and where he's from" Hibari pointed Hibird towards the tuxedo stalker.

Hibird chirped happily and flew out the window.

* * *

"Gokudera-kun~"

Gokudera turned to see the Ami walking towards him, Tsuna and Yamamoto

"What."

"Actually I…I need help with my maths homework…"

_THIS IS IT! CHANCE! THE FINAL SHOWDOWN, TODAY. YES! HAYATO~ YOU DID WELL!_  
Inner Hayato celebrated

"Fine, I'll help you with your homework" He said, trying to stay casual

"Oh, thank you! I'll see you afterschool~" She ran off, happily

_Great, this gives me plenty of time to think of a strategy._

After school, Gokudera walked together with Ami to her house like planned to help out with her 'maths homework'.

"I'm really thankful that Gokudera-kun is here to help me with maths" She smiled at him

"…Yeah" was all he said

_Is she going to make a speech before she attacks me?_

They stopped outside Ami's house.

Gokudera instantly started doing stretches.

"Umm Gokudera-kun, what are you doing…?"

"I'M WARMING UP!"

"…Why..?"

"Just… wait inside your house!"

"Oh, okay"

Ami opened the door and hurried inside.

Gokudera finished warming up and checked his pockets; yep, all of his dynamites are there.

He double-checked to see if his lighter is working.

Everything's set.

He walked in cautiously, she could attack any time.

He saw her sitting down at the coffee table and readied the dynamites in his right hand.

"Okay, I'm all set!" She said, laying down all of her books

"Yeah. Me too" He said and assumed his fighting stance.

"Okay~" She smiled at him.

…

20 seconds passed.

…

"Gokudera-kun..?"

"What"

"I'm just waiting for you to sit down…" She said, looking confused.

"Wait, what?"

"I'm just waiting for you to sit down so we can study…" She said, growing more confused.

_I don't get this, what's going on?_

"Oh…right" He sat down next to her and pulled out his maths book.

_Am I really just here to help her?_

"Gokudera-kun, are you okay? You don't have to help me if you're not feeling alright. If you want, you can go home" Ami looked concerned

_Wait. Let me think this over. Am I really just here to help her out with her maths homework? If after tonight she doesn't do anything, then this would probably make her innocent; if she was a pro, she would have known that she has the chance to take me out already. Okay, I'll just play along, but still maintain my guard. _

"No, it's okay. I was just- uhh… nervous. Yes, I was nervous. I wonder if Tenth is eating well. You know, these things just continue to worry me" He lied

_What the crap kind of lie was that, _he inwardly cursed himself.

"Oh alright" Ami seemed to believe him, "don't worry, I'm sure Tsuna-kun is doing fine~"

"Yes... Now let's just get your maths homework done with"

"Okay!" She grinned excitedly as she opened her maths book.

In the end, it turned out that Gokudera really was there just to help out with her homework.

_But I don't get this. Can she really just be an innocent person? I'll ask Reborn._

"I'm going to make dinner now, do you want to join?" Ami called from the kitchen

_This might be it._

"Eh, sure" Gokudera replied, hoping that Ami would whip out a knife and make a move.

But much to his dismay, she didn't.

* * *

"Hibari!"

Hibari Kyoya turned to the window to see Hibird.

He had stayed after school to do some disciplinary work.

Hibari opened the window and held out his hand for Hibird to land on.

"CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP~"

He listened closely to the bird, "So that man comes from the _Ombroso Family_, and their hideout is at a warehouse in Namimori?"

Hibird nodded, this is convenient for him; Namimori is his territory.

"Kusakabe" Hibari called without raising his voice.

"Yes?" Kusakabe immediately entered the reception room.

"Do my work; I'm going hunting"

* * *

Gokudera sat down on the dinner chair and looked at the food that he cooked with Ami.

Roast beef with vegetables.

Ami sat opposite him, "Gokudera-kun really is good at cooking"

"You say that to almost everyone"

"That's because everyone that I know is good at cooking" Ami smiled

"Including my sister?"

"Your sister? I don-"

"Bianchi" He interrupted

"BIANCHI-CHAN? SHE'S YOUR SISTER?" Ami looked really surprised

"Yeah… I hate her"

"Why?"

"A long time ago, I was going to perform my pia…" Gokudera stopped halfway

_Wait, why am I telling her all this?_

"Nevermind" He finished.

"Oh… okay. Anyways, let's eat!"

They both took a plate of food and started eating.

_This… IT'S SO GOOD! I don't want to admit it, but this… Okay Hayato, stay casual. _

Gokudera struggled to maintain a straight face while eating dinner. THE FOOD WAS SO GOOD!

Afterwards, he hesitantly helped out with cleaning up then headed out the door.

_So… She really is innocent._

He was about to make his way home when something caught his eye.

There was someone watching him.

"Who's there?" He turned around.

"Ooooh, this boy has good senses" A man in a tuxedo stepped out from behind the pole

"What do you want?" Gokudera demanded

"None of your business, boy"

"Okay, then I'll make you tell me. By force" He smirked and whipped out 3 dynamites.

"Hehehe, I've been waiting to attack her for a long time, but boss told me not to" the tuxedo man flashed a creepy smile as he pulled out daggers from his pocket, one on each hand, "So I guess I'll just make do with you!"

Gokudera didn't give the man a chance to attack and launched his dynamites at him.

It caused a big explosion, surrounding him and the man with smoke.

_He's wanted to attack the suspicious woman? _

"Hehehe. Not bad" The man said, emerging from the smoke.

"This man can withstand my dynamites?" Gokudera thought out loud, "But he won't stand them from point-blank"

He threw his mini dynamites and quickly hoarded his arms full of regular dynamites, "Double bomb!" and launched them; Gokudera's perception trick.

The man fell for it and thought the mini dynamites were his regular ones and took the hit.

After the smoke cleared, the man took a couple of steps then collapsed.

* * *

A little while after Gokudera left her house, Ami heard a loud explosion.

"What was that?" She quickly ran to the front of her house and saw Gokudera engaged in battle with a man in a tuxedo.

Her legs were paralysed from fear and she just stood there; watching.

"G-Gokudera-kun…"

She let out a sigh of relief as Gokudera emerged, victorious.

Ami was about to run up to him when he suddenly stooped down to the man's level and held him up by his collar.

"What are you doing here?" He demanded, "What business do you have with the girl or Vongola?"

Ami's eyes widened.

"Vongola?"

The name seemed familiar to her, then images of a flag with 'VONGOLA' written on it and an army of men in suits flashed to her mind.

Her head then felt like it was ripping apart.

She clutched onto her head in pain.

"G-Gokuder…" She couldn't call out to him; the pain was unbearable.

She saw the man in the tuxedo laugh and say something to Gokudera, despite his unfortunate circumstances.

Ami curled up on the ground, in pain.

_What's happening to me? This was like at that time… with Kumiko-san… But this time, it's my head that's hurting…_

"_I told you didn't I?"_ she heard a voice

"W-who are you?"

"_**You're not alone"**_

All of a sudden, her whole body started to hurt, like something was tearing at her.

Ami couldn't stand it any longer and started screaming.

"_Von…Go...La?"_ She heard a little girl's voice.

Hundreds of sounds entered her head; gunshots, yelling, the sound of bones breaking, bodies falling to the ground, then silence.

"_Mother?"_

That was the last thing she heard before she blacked out.

* * *

"As you know, the Ombroso Family bears ill feelings against Vongola. *cough* If you want to know why we targeted the girl, ask your superior" The man said before he lost consciousness.

Gokudera was about to contact Reborn when she heard Ami screaming.

He ran towards her and saw her curled on the ground, screaming.

He was about to help her up when her screaming died down and she fell unconscious.

"What the hell's going on?" Gokudera muttered.

He picked her up and set her down on her bed.

Gokudera recalled the time when him and Hana saved Ami from Kumiko. She started screaming out of nowhere then, she's out cold.

"I've got to talk to Reborn about this…" He said to himself and ran to Tsuna's house.

He knocked on the door and Tsuna's mother answered.

"Oh! Gokudera-kun~ Tsuna's upstairs!" She pointed towards his room.

"Thanks!" He said and ran up the stairs.

"TENTH! REBORN-SAN!" He burst through the door, scaring Tsuna.

"Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna asked, "what are you doing here?"

"Reborn-san!" He turned towards Reborn, "That woman, she's-"

"Go back" Reborn replied.

"Huh? I don't understand…" Gokudera was confused

"There's no time to explain, go back to her house. Me and Tsuna will meet you there"

"Uhh… okay"

Gokudera ran back down the stairs and ran towards Ami's house.

_Damn woman. She should be happy that I'm doing all of this._

He stopped outside her house to catch his breath, when

"BOOM!"

There was an explosion, surrounding the house and Gokudera with smoke.

Gokudera jumped back in surprise, then took on a battle stance.

_What the hell is happening?_

He heard the roar of an engine.

Ami emerged from the smoke.

…Holding a chainsaw.

"Fufufu…" She laughed softly, her red hair covered her face.

"WHAT THE… TANAKA?" Gokudera couldn't properly register what was happening, just when he finally believed that Ami was innocent, she comes out and wields a chainsaw.

"No, not Tanaka" She replied coldly and tried to slash at him.

He narrowly missed, but it ended up giving him a cut. Gokudera lost his balance and fell.

"Fufufu~" She closed in on him; Gokudera pulled out a dynamite.

"Wait, don't attack her" Reborn warned.

"WHAT?" Gokudera couldn't believe what he just heard, "REBORN-SAN, CAN'T YOU SEE THAT SHE'S TRYING TO KILL ME?"

"Stupid Gokudera. Can't you see that the girl in front of you isn't Tanaka Ami?"

"…HUH?"


	15. Unveiling: Part 3

Finally, all your questions are answered!  
Well, MOST of your questions.  
Thank you to everyone who favourited, read and reviewed :)  
I love you all !

* * *

"Whatever you do, don't harm her" Reborn warned.

"But that's impossible!"

Ami swung at him with the chainsaw, he dodged

_I'll just keep dodging_

"Gokudera-kun…Ami-chan…" Tsuna looked very worried, "what's going on, Reborn?"

"I'll explain later"

Ami tilted her head, revealing a manic smile, "Fufufu~"

She raised the chainsaw, ready to attack.

Before Gokudera could react, Ami appeared to his side and slashed at his abdomen.

"Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna yelled

"Don't worry Tenth, I-"

Ami swung again, Gokudera narrowly missed.

_She's fast…_

Cold sweat appeared on his forehead; he won't last long with a wound.

"Reborn-san, how long do I have to keep dodging?"

"For as long as it takes"

"BUT THAT COULD TAKE FOREVER!"

Ami threw the chainsaw right at him.

"What the-"

He quickly sidestepped; she appeared behind him and caught the chainsaw as it flew right past him.

Gokudera didn't have enough time to dodge and felt the chainsaw tear into the flesh on his right arm.

"GA-!"

He fell on his knees, clutching his arm.

He looked up at Ami. She tilted her head upwards, revealing her eyes.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Her eyes were wide open, her lips curled to form the most evilest smile that he's ever seen; the face of a sadist.

She stopped the chainsaw to study the blood that it gathered.

Her eyes slowly travelled from the blood to Gokudera, then smiled wider.

"Blood…"

She collected some of the blood on her index finger then brought it to her mouth.

"Fufufu"

"Who are you?" Gokudera demanded

"I'm…" Ami walked unsteadily towards Gokudera, "I'm… a part of Ami"

"A _part_ of her?"

She started the chainsaw again and ran towards Gokudera.

_I CAN'T KEEP DODGING HER!_

Gokudera sent out a flurry of kicks and punches, but were blocked by the flat side of the chainsaw

"My turn to attack"

She swung the chainsaw to his neck.

"GOKUDERA-KUN!"

His hands were on the chainsaw, stopping the attack JUST before it got him.

"Ugh"

Ami staggered back and fell to her knees.

She brought her hands to her head, "You got lucky, you pile of crap" She glared up at Gokudera, "But next time… I WILL KILL YOU!"

And with that, she fell to the ground. Unconscious.

Gokudera looked at Reborn with confusion.

"What the hell is going on?"

"I'll tell you" Reborn replied, "but let's put Ami back into her house".

Once again, Gokudera carried Ami and set her down on her bed. Reborn instructed them to sit in the living room whilst he explained about the whole situation.

"Okay. Here's the truth about Tanaka Ami" He said as he pulled out a folder.

He showed it to Tsuna and Gokudera.

It was a folder labelled "TANAKA AMI" with her picture.

"When Ami was 5, her mother died in Italy. Her and her mother were on a holiday there when they got caught in the middle of a battle between Vongola and Bonifacio family. Her mother was shot by a stray bullet from Vongola and died right in front of Ami" Reborn explained, "She was lying in the middle of the road, half-dead when Shamal found her"

"Shamal?" Tsuna and Gokudera asked

"Yes, that idiot Shamal" Reborn continued, "He took her in and was placed under the care of various Vongola officials. Medical reports say that she suffered a lot of trauma and lost the ability to feel anger and sadness. Gokudera, this would explain why she's always cheerful and positive. It wasn't because of emotional strength or anything, but lack thereof. Upon seeing her mother die right in front of her, something must have clicked in Ami which forced her to stop displaying those emotions as some sort of self-defence"

"But that doesn't explain why she acted all psycho just then!" Gokudera interrupted.

"Shut up, I'm getting there. Tsuna, when did you first see Ami?"

"Umm, 2 years ago?"

"Yes, she transferred there from Italy. She told her foster carers at that time that she can look after herself and felt it was time to move back to her home country, here in Japan. So ever since, she's been living by herself."

"I… I never knew that Ami-chan had a past like that…" Tsuna looked down at his feet, feeling guilty.

"But Reborn, why did you warn us to stay away from her before?"

"They were orders from Ninth's advisor. I was told to not go near her in case something may happen. But my orders changed; I was told to analyse her for any possible risks to herself, other people or Vongola. It was there that I realized that there was something out of the ordinary with Ami. I figured out the implications of not being able to display anger and sadness. The result was right there, just then"

"But what caused it?"

"This may be hard to believe, but Ami's body created another personality, or persona to deal with the pain and the trauma."

"So you're saying that she has a split personality?" Gokudera asked

"Yes, that's right"

"If Ami doesn't feel sadness and anger, it's the other personality that stores those emotions. That's what caused her to crack like that. Ami was traumatized and she can't remember what happened her life from before she was 6 years old, so remembering Vongola must have triggered the sadness she felt when her mother died. I have to decide whether she is safe or is causing anyone any harm"

"So what if you think she's dangerous?" Tsuna asked

"I was ordered to eliminate her" Reborn simply answered

"What?"

"We have three choices: we kill her, or someone has to tire out her other persona whenever her anger and sadness hit danger levels or try to merge two personalities together"

"Hmm… explain the last two choices" Gokudera said

"From what I know, that other personality can only hold in so much anger and sadness before she becomes unstable like what happened. So think of it as regular cleaning, if we tire her out whenever she becomes unstable, it'll have to be done on a regular basis. So I recommend the other choice. This may be hard, and the result will probably end in a different Ami from what you knew, but it's the safest. We have to get Ami to come into terms with everything that's happened and get her to feel sadness and anger again"

"Okay we pick the last choice" Tsuna and Gokudera decided at the same time

"But Gokudera has to be the one to do it"

"What?"

"You're the closest person to her right now that knows everything. You have to become closer to her and try to make her feel anger and sadness again. It'll be a slow process though"

"Okay, I refuse"

"But, Gokudera-kun! I think it'll be for the best if you just helped her" Tsuna turned to him

"F-fine… I'll do it" Gokudera was easily convinced by Tsuna

"Oh that reminds me, about Fuuta's ranking…"

"It was true" Reborn stated, "But only to a certain extent. Gokudera, that other side of Ami that you versed just then was not her full strength. Think of all the anger and sadness from 5 years old continually stockpiled until today. That is her strength. Think of it as fuel, if we wear it out, she won't be strong"

"But, it was raining at that night" Tsuna remembered looking through the window

"Think, idiot. Think of the people that were at the party"

"Chrome-chan!" Tsuna suddenly remembered.

"That's right. I told her that if anything of the sort showed up in the rankings, she should create an illusion of rain"

"Ohh that's explains everything…" Tsuna said

"So basically, about Tanaka Ami… she's an ordinary person who got caught up in a battle between Vongola and Bonifacio when her mother was shot by a stray bullet from Vongola's men and that's how she became traumatized. So to protect herself, she can't display anger and sadness, but had been 'storing' it in her other personality. So when she can't take anymore anger and sadness, she'll become unstable and reveal her darker side, right?" Gokudera summarized

"That's right"

"So if left like this, she'll cause greater damage to other people and since the bullet is from Vongola's side, she is Vongola's responsibility, therefore Reborn was ordered to eliminate her. We can't let her die; she's still an innocent person whose life was ruined by the mafia. So we're getting Gokudera-kun to help her because he's the closest person to her" Tsuna finished

"Yeah. So have you made your decision?" Reborn asked

"Yes" Tsuna said, and Gokudera hesitantly answered.

"How do you feel knowing that Ami has experienced all of this?" Reborn asked

"I feel bad; she must have suffered a lot by herself. Then being traumatized like that… I think it's worse because she doesn't know what's happening to her"

"Yeah" Gokudera agreed.

_So, that's the truth… And the whole time, I've been suspecting her._

"That's right, she doesn't know anything about her other personality or her past. So we have to be careful with what we say or do. Okay so Gokudera, you're now responsible over Ami"

"What?"

"You can't let her get angry or sad. So that means you have to keep watching over her and make sure no trouble comes to her"

"Ohh, Gokudera-kun, you're like her guardian!"

_Oh God._

"So basically… she… okay why is her hair blonde in the picture?" Gokudera forgot what he wanted to say as he got distracted by the picture of Ami.

"Actually that was some sort of phenomenon, we can't explain it. Ever since her hair got drenched in blood from the battle, her hair stayed red"

Tsuna went wide-eyed.

"Wow."

"So, when are we starting the plan?" Gokudera asked

"As soon as she wakes up"

"What? That soon?"

"You wanna die?" Reborn smiled

"Ah… Alright we'll get started when she wakes up" Gokudera inched away from Reborn, "Oh that reminds me. Why is the Ombroso family after Tanaka?"

"Because they managed to find out about her. Tanaka Ami's case is codenamed "Bambino Nascosto" meaning 'hidden child' because Vongola feels that they've caused her to be this way, so Vongola became responsible for her protection. The Ombroso family just happened to come across the information about her other personality and it's capability to engage in combat, despite Ami being a normal person. So they're planning to use her for research or something like that"

"So all of this is happening… And Ami-chan doesn't know it?" Tsuna asked

"Yes"

"Then this makes everything harder" Gokudera complained.

"Tsuna-kun? Gokudera-kun? Baby?"

Tsuna and Gokudera turned around; Ami was standing at the doorway behind them.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, but was happy to see them, "and what happened?"

"Ami-chan!" Tsuna stood up and ran to her, relieved that she's back to normal

"Oh umm, you fell" Gokudera lied, "Yeah, you walked outside and slipped"

_DAMMIT! Was that the best lie I can come up with?_

"Ohhh, okay. Thanks for helping me, everyone" Ami smiled, she completely believed Gokudera

"Oh! Look at the time, it's getting really late" Tsuna said, looking at his watch, "I've got to go now, bye Ami-chan!"

"Oh okay, bye Tsuna-kun!" She smiled and opened the front door for him

Gokudera took that as his cue to leave.

"I've got to get going too" He said

"Okay, goodnight!" She waved as he stepped outside.

"…Take care, okay?" Gokudera patted her head.

"Yep!" She smiled at him.

_Tanaka Ami… I've always suspected her as an assassin, but I never thought her actual situation would be so deep. I have to become closer to her, huh._


End file.
